I heard a recently discussion that some transgender people feel far less patriotic toward the Good ‘Ol US of A since beginning their journey down this new adventure in life.  I have heard it coming from transsexuals and others who live full-time in a cross-gender life, but not so much from crossdressers and others who cross the gender lines temporarily.  Why would transsexuals feel this way?

Dictionary.com’s definition of Patriotism is:

“noun: devoted love, support, and defense of one’s country; national loyalty.”

“Devoted love, support, and defense of one’s country?”  I have noticed that transsexuals who have served their country in the military don’t seem to have as much of an issue with their patriotism, and in many cases, are more patriotic than the average American.  I served eight years in the Navy and I am very proud of the service to my country, as I am with all the family members who also served.  I even have a memorial to my father with models of four jets he worked on when he was in the Air Force.  In a year, my mother will give me the flag that was on his coffin, and I will display it proudly.

(Break)

Why would some trans people feel a loss of patriotism after starting their lives down the correct path?  Could it be all of the things this country has done and continues to do to show us how little they care about us?  “Can I get a Hallelujah and a big Duh here?”  Ya think?  Here are some of the things I have seen over the years that have made me even question my patriotism.

Violence:

Year by year, violence toward trans people continues to get worse and worse.  The Remember Our Dead list doesn’t stop growing, with more than half coming from the US each year.  Other forms of physical violence and rape are also disproportionately higher in our community then in other minorities.  Only young African American men seem to have as much or more violence then transgender people.  In the trans community, People of Color have faced a higher percentage of violence and the ROD list reflects this.  This feeling of constant danger can cause people to wish they lived someplace else, so it affects their patriotism.

Federal Hate Crimes Legislation:

According to the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE,) eleven states have their own form of hate crimes legislation that covers gender expression and gender identity.  On the federal level, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (LLEHCPA,) HR 1592, passed the House, but in the Senate, their version, bill S 1105, was attached to an arm forces appropriation bill to get it to the President’s desk.  However, this changed the appropriation bill, which meant it had to go back to the House for approval.  LLEHCPA was then removed from the appropriations bill, thus ending its journey.

The difference between the federal hate crimes bill and a state hate crimes law is that the federal law will NOT increase sentences.  LLEHCPA will add “gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability” to the existing protected class list, which already includes race, color, religion, and national origin.  This would allow federal money to go to local law enforcement agencies to help investigate a hate crime.  It would also mean that separate stats would be collected on crimes against LGBT people and would show the numbers of those crimes committed in the US.

The most important reason to pass a federal hate crimes law is to tell the American people that if you hate this group of people and commit crimes against them, it will no longer be tolerated.  Since Congress had been so cavalier in trying to pass LLEHCPA and then letting it die so easily, it sent a message that LGBT people are not important enough to add to the existing federal hate crimes legislation.  The United States of American is okay with its citizens hating LGBT people and harming them.  They could easily be saying, “We don’t think they are worthy enough to care what happens to them.”  One begins to question why they should be patriotic toward a county who feels that way about them.

Federal Employment Non-Discrimination:

Here is another area where transgender people have questioned their patriotism.  According to NCTE, thirteen states and the District of Columbia have passed nondiscrimination laws that protect people based on their gender identity and gender expression.  This leaves 63% of the American population not covered.  Many of those remaining states will never pass their own nondiscrimination law, so their citizens are depending on the federal government for this.  As we saw in 2007, Congress was more than willing to throw transgender and gender variant people under the bus when it came to this law.

I was well on my way to working toward becoming a delegate to the Democratic National Committee’s 2008 Convention in Denver when the vote for ENDA took place in October, 2007.  As soon as I got word that a majority of supposedly supportive Democrats voted for the non-inclusive law, I stopped supporting the Democratic Party.  I was not very happy that the party I gave money to and worked for to elect their candidates told me in no uncertain terms that I was not worthy to be considered equal to other Americans.  To a veteran, that is a huge slap in the face.  Veterans Day came up shortly after that and I refused to march in the Atlanta Veterans Day Parade or participate in any activities.  My patriotism suffered its biggest blow in my life.

I wasn’t the only one.  There was a rumor that if the non-inclusive ENDA passed, some transgender people planned on seeking asylum at the Dutch Embassy in DC because of the discriminatory actions of this country.  They wanted to embarrass the US, but nothing every came of it, or at least not yet.  Besides, the current administration would have cared less if a bunch of “tranny freaks” left the country.

Transgender Veterans Discrimination in the VA:

This is a subject I have written about several times recently, since the White Paper Report on the Transgender Veterans Survey was published.  I don’t need to go into detail once again on the amount and kinds of discrimination transgender veterans have faced in VA medical facilities.  When a person gives four, ten, twenty, or thirty years of their life to serve this country in the military, one would think that they have earned the right to be treated with respect and equally with other veterans.  It’s no wonder some transgender veterans question their patriotism when they held up their end of the contract, but the country doesn’t hold up theirs.

Over and over again, transgender people indirectly get the message that this country doesn’t want them as citizens.  Yet, they still take our tax money.  Sometimes the message comes from the very allies we hoped would be there for us no matter what.  Sometimes it comes from Congress in the form of being excluded from legislation.  We hear it from law enforcement agencies, employers, co-workers, family members, the medical profession, insurance companies and even the people on the streets.  We hear this so much that not a day goes by that some transgender person in this country questions why they still live here.  Some actually do leave.

As for me, I was born here, my family has been here since before the Revolutionary War, many family members in our history served in this country’s military and all my family lives here today.  The ENDA disaster was the closest time in my life where I questioned my patriotism.  I decided that my love for this country and the pride I have for what I did in the Navy cannot be dampened any longer by an uncaring Congress, an administration that has promoted hate and a population that refused to be educated.  I will continue working toward fixing the problems of this country, or die trying.